Bush: forget climate change, I got breakfast with Jeb

onAug 1, 2006 @ 10:40 PDT

The State of California and the United Kingdom agreed to a pact yesterday to create a carbon trading market as a means of pushing the development of new green technologies and battling global warming. UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and Califonia’s Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will also look to enhance the sharing of knowledge in the areas of economic and scientific research as it relates to climate change.

As reported widely, neither US President George Bush or his top enviro-advisor, James Connaughton, were able to attend due to “scheduling conflicts.”

According to the White House official website, it appears that Bush snubbed Blair to attend a business roundtable in South Florida with his younger brother, Gov. Jeb Bush. Also on his schedule was a rah-rah event at a US Coast Gaurd base and a tour of Miami ports.

Glad to see the US administration has its priorities straight.

By Kevin Grandia

Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmog. He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the “Top 50 Tweeters” on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning. Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevin’s research into the “climate denial industry” and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Koch’s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea party networks. Kevin is the first person to be designated a “Certified Expert” on the political and community organizing platform NationBuilder. Prior to DeSmog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health. In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the world’s best e-Content and innovative ICT applications. Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.